Los Angeles • A California wildfire that has killed two people and seared its way through cities, towns and wilderness northwest of Los Angeles became the largest blaze ever officially recorded in California on Friday, authorities said.
The fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties had scorched 273,400 acres, or about 427 square miles of coastal foothills and national forest, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
That was 154 acres larger than California’s previous fire record holder — the 2003 Cedar fire in San Diego County that killed 15 people.
The Cedar fire had been recognized as the biggest California wildfire in terms of acreage since 1932.